(How) Have representations of youth changed over time?Exam Question: How do contemporary

representations compare to previous time periods?

What do you know?

A Clockwork Orange• 1962 dystopian British novel – Anthony

Burgess– First person narration– Nasdat – invented youth language/

adolescent slang– Title was a metaphor: "...an organic entity, full

of juice and sweetness and agreeable odour, being turned into an automaton."

A Clockwork Orange• 1971 – Film adaptation directed by Stanley

Kubrick– “The story functions… on several levels, political,

sociological, philosophical and, what’s most important, on a dreamlike psychological-symbolic level” - Kubrick

– Themes: Morality; Youth; Psychology; The State and The Individual; Violence

– Withdrawn by Kubrick in 1972– Released in 2000 after Kubrick’s death (1999)

1. Does the film reinforce similar representations of youth/ themes of youth to contemporary media texts?

1. What would Maffesoli say about this film?– Tribes?– The power of Media?– The decline of family?– How do the droogs express their

tribalism?– How is the youth culture (their clothing

and culture) an example of bricolage?

1. What would Stanley Cohen say about this film and its reception in the media?

How is A Clockwork Orange of its time?

1971 Britain

• The Modern World– Modernist buildings (Brutalist architecture)– Rise in Media– Synthetics (fabrics/ furniture/ lifestyles…)

1971 Britain

• Post World War 2– The violence and barbarism of humanity;– The value of youth (‘we fought for our children’);– Liberty; Freedom

1971 Britain

• Cold War paranoia– Where is the threat coming from?

1971 Britain

• New Britain– Post-Empire – weakened power– Changing relationships between the classes– Decline in industry

1971 Britain

• Rise in Youth cultures– 1960s subcultures (Mod/ Rockers/ Hippies);– Rise in Media (esp music);– Generational divide;– The death of the hippy generation (‘Summer

of Love’ = 1967)

How is A Clockwork Orange of its time?

• Post World War 2– The violence and barbarism of humanity;– The value of youth (‘we fought for our children’);– Liberty; Freedom

• Cold War paranoia– Where is the threat coming from?

• New Britain– Post-Empire – weakened power– Changing relationships between the classes– Decline in industry

• Rise in Youth cultures– 1960s subcultures (Mod/ Rockers/ Hippies);– Rise in Media (esp music);– Generational divide;– The death of the hippy generation (‘Summer of Love’ = 1967)

• Modernism/ The Modern World– Modernist buildings (Brutalist architecture)– Rise in Media– Synthetics (fabrics/ furniture/ lifestyles…)